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Friday, December 3, 2010

Thanksgiving

Depending upon where you were, Thanksgiving could have been a great family day, a hungry one or for many, a lonely day. I am thankful that ours was filled with family, a plentiful table, and much talk and laughter, all very different from that of last year when my husband was in the hospital.

In addition to my daughters, there were six grandchildren with their families and friends, and a cousin of mine with his girlfriend from Hungary.We missed those who were unable to be with us.

Dandy was not disturbed by the confusion of twenty-three persons, most of them strangers to him, and remained very calm and polite through the day. To my knowledge, he did not beg at the table, but there is always the possibility that he did not need to beg with so many willing hands around the table.

My cousin wanted his friend to see as much of the area sights as their time would allow. She, as a teacher in Budapest, was interested in everything:

Memorial marker

The window from which the
shots were fired.

Dealey Plaza, where history was made, the old stockyard area of Fort Worth, and a surprising bonus...the Christmas lights of some of the most most lit up areas in the city.

Daily drive of the longhorns
in the Stockyards

Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been the fourth Thursday in November but a national uproar was created in Franklin Roosevelt's term of office when merchants pleaded with him to set an earlier date which would give them a longer shopping period. This was still during the Depression and businesses were struggling to survive. There was such protest that the changed date had to be repealed.
Today the issue of a limited time for shopping is almost laughable. Although the official Christmas shopping began the day after Thanksgiving unofficially, the shoppers have been lured into the stores for six weeks or more.
Our lives have changed. Ten or fifteen years ago I was offended by the Christmas decorations that appeared before Thanksgiving. I felt the true meaning of the special day of Thanksgiving was being bypassed by commercialism. Has it happened? We appear to be keeping it alive and well and should always do so.
This year, while shopping several weeks before Halloween, department stores were decorating with their Christmas glitter. Before Halloween! I didn't even blink an eye! Our time has become so compressed that, unlike in the days of FDR's administration, it is now the shoppers who are now needing more time to shop.
Despite the demands of what we are now calling the Holiday Season let us not ever ignore the special meanings of the three special days:Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year!